The Minnesota Star Tribune reports on how the economy has had a dramatic impact on local hospitals and health care workers. Chen May Yee writes,

For three decades, health care has been Minnesota's economic
juggernaut, generating thousands of high-wage jobs, supporting a
prestigious academic research community and spinning off a thriving
medical technology industry. Today, one of every seven employed
Minnesotans works in health care.

But an industry that sailed through the last two recessions is
hitting the shoals this time. Local hospitals have shed more than 1,000
workers since last year and postponed big construction projects. The
University of Minnesota Medical School is "looking under every stone''
for savings. State nursing homes are bracing for millions of dollars in
cuts proposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. . . .